Commissioners approve polling-place accessibility changes; elections staff report 5,600 mail ballots sent

Summary

The board approved a change order to extend accessibility improvements at county polling locations and heard an elections update saying about 5,600 mail ballots had been mailed and roughly half returned as of the report. Staff stressed deadlines for ballot receipt and a short construction schedule to finish work before winter weather.

Commissioners approved change order No. 3 to the county's accessibility project for polling places, adding work at three sites and reducing scope at two others after the architect, contractor and the local fire company revisited problem locations.

Project staff said the changes were needed at a small number of the roughly 70 sites covered by the contracts, and that the county is pushing to complete the work before weather prevents exterior access. An architect will inspect progress as contractor crews make corrections, staff said on the record.

Elections staff reported that about 5,600 mail ballots had been mailed and roughly half had been returned at the time of the update; staff noted that ballots can be received through the Tuesday of the election at 8 p.m. and that county operations on election day rely on employees across multiple departments.

Commissioners also used the public portion of the meeting to remind residents to exercise caution on Halloween and to vote in the upcoming election.

The change order and the elections update were recorded on the meeting minutes; staff will monitor the accessibility corrections and provide progress updates to the board as the work continues.